Worldwide Sports News

It’s our fourth day of counting down the Cubs top prospects and now we’re getting to the really interesting part.

6. Kane Kepley. OF. B:L, T:L. DOB: 2/14/2004. 5’8”, 180. Drafted 2nd round (2025) North Carolina.

Kane Kepley had one of the best starts to a professional career of any 2025 draftee. After the Cubs grabbed the Tar Heel speedy outfielder in the second round, they assigned him straight to Low-A Myrtle Beach. In 28 games there, he hit .299/.481/.433 with two home runs and 16 stolen bases in a challenging hitting environment. He also played a terrific center field.

Kepley is an undersized player with a sharp eye at the plate and good contact rates. He rarely chases bad pitches and has good bat speed through the zone to make hard contact. Kepley likes to spray the ball to all fields. His swing is fairly level, but he does manage to get some lift to the pull side that gives him a little power. He’s a terrific baserunner with plus speed. Defensively, Kepley covers a lot of ground in center field.

The biggest knock on Kepley is his size. At just 5’8”, he’s used to getting overlooked. He had to walk on at Liberty for two years before he transferred to North Carolina. Being overlooked may be one reason that Kepley is one of those guys whose motor is seemingly always running. 

But for all of Kepley’s considerable skills, his size is an issue. While he does have a little pull-side power, his overall power projection is definitely below average for a starting major league outfielder. He’s already built like Atom Ant (and if anyone wants to give him that nickname, be my guest) so there really isn’t any room on his frame to add any more strength. His arm probably isn’t up to playing right field either, which limits his versatility. 

Kepley is most likely heading to High-A South Bend this spring, where he will look to build on his impressive start to his career. While a fourth outfielder is the more likely outcome, Kepley’s ceiling is a starting major league center fielder and old school leadoff hitter who puts the ball in play, gets on base, steals bases and provides good defense in center field. Only a lack of power will prevent him from having a shot at being a true star.

Here’s Kepley’s first professional home run. [VIDEO]

7. Jonathon Long. 1B. B:R. T:R. DOB: 1/20/2002. 5’11”, 210. Drafted 9th round (2023) Long Beach State.

I could probably just cut and paste what I wrote about Long last year. This year, Long made his  Triple-A debut, spent the entire season in Iowa and just continued to hit, pretty much every day. He played 140 games in 2025 and put up a line of .305/.404/.479 with 20 home runs. He lead the International League with 157 hits. For that, Long was named and IL All-Star and the Cubs’ Minor League Player of the Year. 

Long has some good bat-to-ball skills and a patient eye at the plate. He rarely swings at bad pitches and can make hard contact to all fields. That patience can sometimes drift into passivity, but he kept his strikeout rate at 19.1 percent in Triple-A last year. His walk rate of 13 percent is also good. 

There were a few warning signs on Long’s output last year. His fly ball rate dropped in Triple-A last year, replaced by a lot more ground balls. And while he can make good contact against better velocity, he does tend to drive fastballs to right and right-center field. Going the other way is good, but there is some concern that he might struggle against elite velocity in the major leagues. 

Those notes are nitpicking. More seriously, Long is a right-handed first baseman with good but not elite power. The standards for a first-division starter with that profile are sky-high and Long’s ceiling may not go up that far. The Cubs have tried him in left field and third base, but he projects to be well below average at both positions. He’s also blocked at first base by Michael Busch. That may make his biggest value to the Cubs is as a tradable asset. 

Long has a very good chance of being a solid everyday first baseman with good on-base skills, decent defense and above-average power. He may not produce enough that good teams won’t be looking to upgrade on him regularly, however. But what he can produce is still pretty good. A lot of pennants have been lost because a team had someone worse than Long in an everyday role. 

Here’s a collection of highlights from Long in 2025.

8. Pedro Ramirez. 2B/3B. B:S, T:R. DOB: 04/01/2004. 5’9”, 165. International free agent (2021) Venezuela.

Ramirez is one Cubs minor leaguer who increased his stock over the past year. Moving up a level to Knoxville, Ramirez managed to both increase his power and contact rates. As a 21-year-old in Double-A, he hit .280/.346/.381 with 8 home runs win 129 games. The Cubs were impressed enough with Ramirez to add him to the 40-man roster over the winter.

Despite moving up a level in 2025, Ramirez cut his strikeout percentage from 18.1 percent down to 15.1 with no change in his walk rates. He’s an aggressive hitter at the plate, but his excellent contact rates keeps his strikeout totals down. Ramirez is excellent at making contact and generally hard contact. As a switch-hitter, Ramirez hits for a much higher batting average right-handed (.316 vs. .269 last year) but he has much more power from the left side. All eight of his home runs last year were against right-handed pitching and all four of his home runs in 2024 were against righties as well.

The increase in Ramirez’s power in 2025 was a pleasant development. Against right-handers, at least, it now projects out to be at least average. (Against left-handers is a different story.) I wouldn’t be surprised if Ramirez hit double-digit home runs in Iowa this year. 

Defensively, Ramirez is above-average at both second and third base. He won a minor league Gold Glove at third base last year, although I maintain he’s more good than great. (Happy to be wrong on that point.) His arm is easily strong enough to handle third. He doesn’t really have the range to play shortstop on anything more than an fill-iin basis, unfortunately, and that limits his utility as a potential backup infielder. 

Ramirez is a very quick baserunner who stole 28 bases last year. That he was caught ten times indicates that he needs to learn to pick his spots better, but there’s no reason to think that Ramirez couldn’t be a threat on the bases in the major leagues.

Ramirez should start the season in Iowa and his status on the 40-man roster means he could make his major-league debut as soon as there is an opening in the infield. He projects out to be an average starting second or third baseman in the majors (I like his bat better at second) for a good team or an excellent bench player. 

Here is Ramirez hitting a walkoff home run for the Smokies. [VIDEO]

9. Cole Mathis 1B/3B. B:R, T:R. DOB: 7/25/2003. 6’1, 210”. Drafted 2nd round (2024), College of Charleston.

Mathis came into the 2025 season with high expectations and left it with a lot of question marks. Coming off of Tommy John surgery in 2024, Mathis was expected to DH for most of the season and then work his way back into the field by August or so. Instead, Mathis played just 29 games as a designated hitter until the Cubs shut him down with soreness in his reconstructed elbow. He did return in time for the Arizona Fall League and played both first and third base there. 

It’s hard to judge what Mathis did last year for the Pelicans because it was so short and he was playing hurt. Still, he showed some real power promise with 13 extra base hits (nine doubles, one triple and three home runs) out of 23 total hits. His batting average of .215 may look disappointing, but that seems to be the result of an unnaturally-low batting average on balls in play of .263 that presumably would have evened out with more at-bats. Mathis’ exit velocities were down from what they were in college, presumably because of his elbow issues. They were still good.

In the AFL, Mathis hit .280/.439/.400 with two home runs in 16 games. It’s hard to read much into AFL stats because of the unusual pro-offense environment of that league, but Mathis did seem to be swinging the bat much more freely. He was also playing defense, which is a good sign even though it was too small of a sample to get any real read of how he was out there.

Mathis shows a good eye at the plate, striking out 22.7 percent of the time and walking 13.3 percent. For someone just making his pro debut and coming off an injury, that’s not bad. At College of Charleston, he showed elite bat-to-ball skills and there’s reason to believe that he’ll return to that with more health and experience. His on-base percentage of .336 and his slugging percentage of .402 were quite good for the offensively-challenged Carolina League and Pelican Park. 

Defensively, the Cubs are putting a lot of eggs in the basket that Mathis can play third base. He definitely has the arm for the position as he was a two-way player at Charleston and probably could have been drafted as a pitcher. But he’s mostly played first base in the field where he’s decent and most observers think he’d be challenged at third base. Mathis’ bat projects out to be average or better at third base but probably average or below at first, so showing he can handle the hot corner is crucial to his value.

Mathis is still pretty much what he was when the Cubs drafted him in the second round in 2024. A hard-hitting corner infielder with an very good eye for the strike zone and plus bat-to-ball skills. He’s also capable of above-average to plus power at the major league level. But he’s also got to get healthy and find a defensive position before we really know what the Cubs have in Mathis. 

Here is Mathis hitting a home run in the Arizona Fall League this past October. [VIDEO]

10. Owen Ayers. C. B:S, T:R. DOB: 6/7/2001. 6’2”, 185. Drafted 19th round (2024) Marshall.

Ayers was already getting some attention with an improved second-season in Low-A Myrtle Beach last year, but a strong performance in the Arizona Fall League (.379/.539/.591) pushed him into the top 10. Even taking into account that he was facing a lot of poor pitching in a hitter-friendly environment, that was a strong showing in the AFL for someone who had never played above Low-A.

After struggling with the Pelicans in 2024 (albeit in just 18 games), Ayers returned to Low-A for 2025. That’s not encouraging for a player taken as a fifth-year senior, but he is a relatively new convert to catching, having not taken to the position full-time until his senior year at Marshall. He played 65 games before breaking his hand in July missing the rest of the season. Ayers’ overall line as a 24-year-old in Low-A, .238/.341/.420 doesn’t pop off the page, but he did hit .258/.371/.433 away from the cavern of Pelicans Park. He also made up for some lost time in the AFL.

Ayers is a switch-hitting catcher who makes consistent hard contact, at least from the left side of the plate. His power numbers are kept modest because his level swing doesn’t get a lot of lift on the ball, but average power potential is there if he can learn to put a little lift off the bat. He makes good swing decisions at the plate and is a relatively disciplined hitter. Ayers is a much better hitter from the left-side than the right, to the point where you wonder if he’d be better off giving up switch-hitting.

Ayers has a cannon behind the plate, but right now his inexperience at the position is hurting him. He’s got the size and tools to be an above-average defensive catcher with a plus arm, but right now he’s still struggling with the non-throwing parts of playing the position. I believe that’s mostly inexperience. There isn’t any physical reason he couldn’t improve, but you can never really tell how a player will handle the mental demands of catching. I’m optimistic that Ayers will improve, but you can never be sure. We should get more answers in South Bend this summer. 

Working against Ayers is that he’s awfully old for someone who hasn’t played above Low-A. But catchers often develop late because of the demands of the position, so the Cubs can afford to be patient. His upside is an average defensive catcher with a plus-plus arm who platoons with another catcher who can murder left-handers. His offensive ceiling is a .250 or so hitter who draws a fair number of walks and hits for average power. Since there’s really no such thing as a backup catcher in the majors anymore, that’s good enough to have a significant career if his defense develops like I believe it can.

Here’s a collection of highlights from the AFL this past year.

Tomorrow: The top five!

Cole Young is here for a reason.

Young made his MLB debut on May 31, 2025, after a carousel of misbegotten second basemen struggled to hold down the position… for the eighth year in a row. The Mariners haven’t found competence at second base since Robinson Canó was suspended in May 2018. It’s not been for a lack of effort or creativity, as they’ve trotted out prospects and veterans and platoons and Donovan Walton. But the “2Bs who were not to be” (sorry) posted a combined .651 OPS from 2018 through 2024 — dead last in MLB.

Young, unfortunately, carried the torch. He posted a .607 OPS (81 wRC+) in 257 plate appearances. His playing time evaporated as the season got late and outcomes mattered more. He didn’t play in the postseason.

It’s unclear what Young’s role will be in 2026. The Mariners on Monday added Brendan Donovan to the infield depth chart. Donovan plays several positions, but the one he’s played the most (and the best) is second base. It’s possible he’ll play third base instead, as the trade that brought him here coincidentally opened a hole there. But tip-top prospect Colt Emerson is expected to tryout for third in Spring Training, pitting Young in a staring contest with his precocious mirror.

Don’t expect Young to blink first, though. There were still several positives to take from his rookie year. First and foremost, this pitch:

I’m rarely stunned by baseball, but that stunned me. Young hit a middle-middle fastball from Kumar Rocker 456 feet into the second deck at T-Mobile Park. It was the longest home run hit at T-Mobile Park in 2025 and one of the 10 longest in Seattle in the Statcast Era.

Young hit the ball 114.1 mph, which places him in the top 10% by max velocity. That’s crucial. As Davy Andrews pointed out for Fangraphs (in a post about a young Victor Robles), rookie max exit velocity is one of the strongest predictors of future performance. Here’s how he summarized the results (in a separate post worth reading):

… for rookies with at least 200 balls in play, wRC+ was less predictive of their future performance than max exit velocity. That blew my mind. Knowing just one measurement, the velocity of a player’s hardest-hit ball, was more useful than knowing about their overall performance through their entire rookie season.

I think Young’s blast was a bit anomalous, even for the concept of “max” exit velocity. His Prospect Savant profile shows solid but less spectacular peak power data, and Fangraphs offers a similar report. Though it’s worth considering this quote from Director of Player Development Justin Toole in an interview with David Laurila where he says all the things you’d expect someone to say about Young and then slips in, “I think Cole’s power at times will surprise you.” So one person wasn’t stunned.

It won’t be necessary for Young to hit the ball that hard all the time. Nearly a quarter of the balls he put in play last year were in the air to pull side, which was solidly above average. Maybe it’s obvious, but its good to hit the ball in the air because that’s a perquisite for getting it over the fence, and its good to the ball to the pull side because that’s where the fence is the closest. Cal Raleigh lead the league by that stat in 2025, if further endorsement is needed.

That’s a tremendously exciting premise. Young’s ascendant tool in the minor leagues wasn’t his power but “contact and hitability,” in the words of Toole. Basically, he had a strong strikeout-to-walk ratio. That seemed to transfer over in his rookie season , with a 18.3% strikeout rate and a 10.9% walk rate. He whiffed a bit more than expected (just about the median), but his knowledge of the strike zone was as advertised. He looks like a legitimate “guy who would have batted second 30 years ago” …. while still having the modern “anybody can hit 20 home runs” dressings. That gives him a few believable paths to success. The industry seems to agree: :

It’s not just the Mariners who like Young, either. One rival executive describes Young as “the league model darling right now,” pointing out that analytically based projection systems value him more highly than scouts do.

I’m curious to see what if any adjustments Young makes this offseason. An 81 wRC+ with interesting peripherals is still an 81 wRC+. Often it seemed he was swinging too big and throwing his timing off because of it. The data potentially supports that theory. He got torched by fastballs, swung at pitches very deep in the zone, and swung at full strength more often than most (as the plot below shows). Maybe it’s just about telling him to chill. Or maybe the approach is fine and the timing will eventually catch up. I don’t expect major intervention, regardless.

It’s harder to find nice things to say about the glove. It was bad. Terrible, even. He posted -9 OAA in less than half a season, making him one of the worst infielders in MLB on a rate basis. He especially struggled going to his right and throwing back across his body. His arm was the third weakest among second baseman; it lacked accuracy, or maybe conviction. He just looked kinda overwhelmed out there.

The extent to which Young struggled is surprising more than anything. Fangraphs scouted him well above average in the field heading into 2025. While public scouting isn’t fully prescient, OOPSY projection system creator Jordan Rosenblum points out Fangraphs is generally pretty good at estimating defensive ability. I just don’t think scouts would have graded him as positively as they did if they were seeing the types of plays in the video above. To me that implies an aberration, or maybe an injury. And conveniently, there were reports that he injured his throwing arm early in the season. Maybe his defense will have healed come Spring.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence Young survived the offseason in Seattle, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence they’ve left some playing time up for grabs. His rookie season did not go well, but he’s tremendously talented with a nearly unlimited ceiling. As the Mariners search for a second baseman approaches a decade, perhaps Young is meant to be.

We are now entering the stretch where pretty much every player on the list has legitimate MLB potential because of their skill set. With the exclusion of Luke Sinnard who, one author had a bit higher on their list, there was unanimous agreement on who the top 12 prospects in the organization are. Youth, and projectable tools reign supreme for the remainder of our list as we dig into some of the best talent the organization has.

18-13 | 19-24 | 25-30 | Honorable Mentions

12. Garrett Baumann – RHP

How he got to the Braves: 2023 4th round pick (126th overall)

Baumann may have one of the highest potentials when it comes to arms in Atlanta’s system, solely based on size and athleticism. Coming off a solid 2024 season in which he posted an ERA of 3.18 across 20 appearances (19 starts) between Augusta and Rome, the 2025 season would hopefully provide a bit of a launch pad for the 6’8, 245-pound righty.

In 2025, Baumann began his season with Rome and showed that he is capable of continuing to progress across seasons. In 23 starts for the Emperors, the 21-year-old tossed 113.2 innings and struck out 108 batters while issuing 31 walks on the year. The main downside when it came to Baumann’s 2025 campaign, is that he was tagged for 10 long balls in his 23 starts.

In all likelihood, Baumann will begin the 2026 season with Columbus where he’ll look to continue to cut down on the walks while working on his secondary pitches – which has been the biggest knock against him since he was drafted. However, it is possible he gets a start or two at Rome to ramp up before joining the Clingstones.

It’s no secret the Atlanta front office doesn’t really care about the typical way of doing things when it comes to promoting players who perform. That isn’t to say that Baumann would be a lock to join the big league club this season, but the potential is there. Overall, Baumann should reasonably hope to join Gwinnett by season’s end with Atlanta in his line of vision for the 2027 season.

11. Jhancarlos Lara – RHP

How he got to the Braves: 2021 international free agent

After catapulting onto the scene with a monster second half in 2023, Jhancarlos Lara has consistently found himself in the conversation surrounding the most talented pitchers in the Braves system. At the time featuring a fastball that sat in the mid-90’s and could touch triple digits, Lara has only added strength and velocity and now regularly sits in the upper-90’s and has touched 102. Lara pairs that blazing fastball without a sharp, wipeout slider in the low-to-mid 90’s which has made year-over-year strides and become one of the most effective pitches at producing whiffs in all of minor league baseball. That pairing made him a force to be reckoned with at the minor league level, but after Lara failed to develop a consistent third pitch or make significant progress with his command the Braves settled on making him a reliever long term. He still got time as a starter in 2025 in order to get him more reps on the mound, but ultimately Lara’s future is in the bullpen where he has star closer potential with his two 70 grade offerings. Lara’s biggest red flag is his abysmal command, which backed up in 2025 and saw him walk nearly 20% of the batters he faced despite otherwise stellar numbers. Lara’s struggles have largely come in his ability to repeat his release point, leading to bouts of him spraying pitches with no real feel for where the ball will end up, but mechanical adjustments in the second half of the season had him moving in the right direction. For a stretch in the second half of the season he was the most dominant reliever at the Triple-A level, posting a 2.29 ERA/2.28 FIP with a strikeout rate of 42.7% and a more respectable 12% walk rate. He had trouble when shifted back into a starting role at the end of the season, but that should not reflect too poorly on his overall projections in the bullpen. Lara has a chance to win a major league job in 2026, and could be the anchor to a bullpen if he can find consistency closer to what he showed in 2024. He is a risky prospect even for a reliever, but given his ceiling and dominant pitch mix he has the upside of a top five closer in baseball.

10. Alex Lodise – SS

How he got to the Braves: 2025 2nd round pick (60th overall)

The Braves drafted Alex Lodise in the second out of Florida State even though many thought he would go somewhere late in the first round after winning the Dick Howser Award. After hitting .394/.462/.705 with 17 homers for FSU, Lodise went straight to Rome and hit .252/.294/.398 with 10 doubles, a triple, and a homer plus five walks to 42 strikeouts in his 109 plate appearances. Lodise showed some real pop in his bat, though it was more for the extra base variety than over the fence, however his pre-draft questions about his strikeouts also really showed up in a big way in the small sample size. Lodise is a guy some were hoping could move fast based on his ACC production, though his Rome stint showed he may need a bit more time to work on his hit tool to cut down on the strikeouts. Lodise projects to be a below average to potentially average hitter with average to a tick above power and average speed. Defensively he may or may not be able to stick at shortstop, but would be able to slide over to second base if necessary. His spring will likely determine if he opens the year back in Rome or moves up to Columbus, but if he can get the hit tool to progress he could move quickly to Atlanta. His ceiling is an above average middle infielder with solid power for the position.

9. John Gil – SS

How he got to the Braves: 2023 international free agent

While Luis Guanipa came into the 2025 season as the most exciting prospect for Augusta, it was ultimately John Gil who stole the show and became the GreenJackets most consistent offensive threat. It took about a month and a half and the passing of his 19th birthday for Gil to find his stride at the top of the order, but once he did he put an emphatic stamp on his prospect status with more walks than strikeouts over his final 70 games and a .146 isolated power that 47% higher than the Carolina League average. Gil is still a raw product, but his ability to recognize the strike zone, recognize spin, and get his barrel to contact is light years ahead of his age. Gil also made a significant jump in his footwork and throwing accuracy, helping him take advantage of his elite speed and settle in as a reliable shortstop who can project as an average or solid average defender at the position on an everyday basis. If Gil is forced off of the position given the arrival of high draft picks Tate Southisene and Alex Lodise, he also has double plus speed and a good first step that should allow him to transition to center field if needed. Gil also made the transition to Double-A to finish out the season, and though his number took a dramatic hit in the one series he played there, he didn’t seem overwhelmed and was able to adjust well enough to the much higher level of competition. Gil’s biggest limitation to his ceiling is a lack of elite top end exit velocity, which will likely cap his power at maturity around average. His swing plane doesn’t generate much lift and he’s likely to see continued adjustments to his mechanics as he progresses, with most of his extra base hit production at the moment coming gap-to-gap. He is still a bit aggressive in the zone at this stage and has a tendency to swing on top of the ball and hit too many ground balls. Still, he is going to start 2026 as a 19 year old at High-A coming off of a strong season of production, and is one of the system’s candidates to have a breakout and get himself into top 100 contention. Gil has the upside of an everyday shortstop with a solid all-around game and an approach that takes him another step above his raw hitting ability.

8. Luke Sinnard – RHP

How he got to the Braves: 2024 3rd round pick (99th overall)

Coming in at a monstrous 6’8” 250+ pounds, Luke Sinnard is one of the highest risers on this list after a sensational 2025 campaign. A third round pick out of Indiana, Luke appeared in 16 total games last year across Low-A Augusta, and the Rome Emperors where he had a cumulative 2.86 ERA, 2.83 FIP, 10.7 K/9, and 3.36 BB/9 rate. He ticked every box you want to see in a pitcher including generating whiffs with multiple pitches, locating his fastball in the upper third, maintained velocity deep into games and seemingly never got frazzled while on the mound. Because his season started late, the Braves sent him to the Arizona Fall League to get more innings, and in the notoriously hitter friendly league, he had a 4.60 ERA (which was one of the lower starter ERAs in the league), while maintaining his strikeout rate of 11.5 per 9, and his walk rate of 3.6 per 9.

Sinnard got it done by showcasing five pitches last season – a four-seam fastball with nearly 10” of arm side-run around 96 MPH, a two-seam fastball with 14” of arm-side run sitting in the mid-90s, a developing curveball in the lower 80s, a 2800 RPM slider in the high-80s, and a strong splitter in the low-80s that sat at less than 750 RPM. With his size, and pitch mix it’s a been of a wonder why he isn’t more highly ranked because his stuff screams MLB even with the curveball that still needs some work to it. Similarly to Schwellenbach last season, one of the last things he has to learn is to trust his stuff a little more, and not pitch so much inside the zone. With his movement as long as the ball starts in the zone, he will have hitters flailing while they try to figure out which pitch is coming next. Luke projects as a middle of the rotation arm with strong upside due to his overall size, strength, and ability to repeat his mechanics. He is a name to watch for in Atlanta, should injuries to pitchers begin to accrue.

7. Briggs McKenzie – LHP

How he got to the Braves: 2025 4th round pick (127th overall)

After saving money on the first day of the draft the Braves had a plenty of bonus pool to spread around on day two, and Briggs McKenzie was the huge grab that changed the algebra on their strategy. It took $3,000,000 to sign McKenzie away from a commitment to LSU, but it gave the Braves a third notable pick in the top five rounds, and a chance for their development staff to make progress on a hugely talented arm. McKenzie currently operates with a four-seam, curveball, and changeup arsenal, and the secondary offerings are advanced for a player his age. His curveball leads the pack with huge break and plus potential, and though like many prep pitchers his changeup didn’t get huge usage in high school it gives him a potentially above-average third offering that is ready to be used in games right now. The lingering concern is around his fastball potential. McKenzie’s fastball sits below-average and has trouble staying in the low-90’s late into games, and while he does have room to add weight and strength his frame isn’t built to support much gain. To be a major league pitcher he is going to need to do a better job of holding velocity while also improving his base velocity, though McKenzie has the arm speed and enough projectability to give evaluators confidence he can at least settle on average velocity. McKenzie brings lean athleticism and should project to average or better command at his peak, though currently his arm action tends to get long and he will need mechanical refinement to improve his consistency. McKenzie has a relatively high floor for a prep pitcher with mid-rotation upside given he has a true out pitch with his curveball, a solid command profile, and an already quality arsenal depth.

The Detroit Tigers are well-positioned to triumph in the land of the indifferent.

All it took was one handshake with Framber Valdez and a short-term commitment to the left-hander to ensure the 2026 Tigers will be significant favorites in the American League Central, where five teams worth a combined $8 billion typically engage in an annual ritual of seeing who can do less.

The Tigers decided to zag: While the modern fan has been conditioned into the loser mindset of "you better trade a guy before you get nothing," Detroit instead took the more appropriate tack of surrounding Tarik Skubal with another elite arm in his almost certainly final year in Motown.

And they even locked up a replacement when he walks. Novel, isn't it?

In signing Valdez to a three-year, $115.5 million contract, the Tigers immediately trot out the AL's most dominant 1-2 punch, a duo perhaps rivaled in Boston or Toronto or Seattle but still can't match the raw dominance of possessing the game's most dominant pitchers and also one of its rocks.

Skubal's greatness is well-documented. Valdez's is a little sneakier, his greatest value coming in the 180 to 200 excellent innings he typically provides every season. Lest we forget, he was the lead blocker in the 2022 Astros' push to the World Series title, going 3-0 with a 1.44 ERA, the Astros winning all four of his starts.

Certainly, a late-season kerfuffle involving his catcher might have dampened his value on the market a tad, but that's the Tigers' gain. And besides, his $38.3 million deal is still the largest per annum for a left-handed free agent.

You'd think stretching for a free agent prize might be out of the Tigers' realm. Then again, memories are short, and baseball's bean counters seem to like it this way.

This is a franchise that once extended future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander on a $202 million deal and also fellow Cooperstown lock Miguel Cabrera on a $292 million pact. Amid all that, they saw fit to sign free agent pitcher Jordan Zimmermann to a five-year, $110 million deal.

There is one place we have talked about a lot in passing when discussing the Washington Nationals coaching hires. That place is Driveline Baseball. So many of the Nats new coaches have ties to the famed baseball lab. I wanted to do a deeper dive on Driveline and talk about why so many Nats coaches are coming from there.

In short, Driveline is an incubator for some of the brightest young baseball minds out there. Paul Toboni clearly wanted to build a staff full of bright young minds, so Driveline is a great place to look. ESPN actually did a great profile on Driveline last week which was a great read. It dug into how Driveline is trying to change the game for hitters.

Driveline Baseball emerged as the place to go for players who wanted to improve their game. It was founded by Kyle Boddy back in 2007, but did not really emerge as the place to be until about a decade later. As the Moneyball era evolved into the Statcast era, Driveline was the place to be, especially for pitchers.

 It was where pitchers went if they wanted to increase velocity or learn new pitches. Driveline’s state of the art cameras and high level instructors help players learn more about their bodies. If they have a mechanical flaw that costs them velocity, Driveline will fix it. If they need to overhaul their arsenal, Driveline will show them new pitch grips. A good example of the ladder is Luis Severino, who totally overhauled his arsenal which helped him get a big contract. 

New Nationals pitching coach Simon Mathews actually worked at Driveline for a bit. He was also involved in another similar pitching lab. After doing that, he found his way into pro ball. He was a rehab specialist for the Reds before becoming their assistant pitching coach last year. After a year of being an assistant, he took the pitching coach job with the Nats.

Mathews is far from the only Nats coach to have Driveline connections. Minor League pitching coach Luke Dziados also came from Driveline. However, the Nats went even more Driveline heavy on the hitting side. While Driveline started as mostly a pitching lab, they have been changing the game for hitting development lately as documented in the ESPN story.

With that in mind, the Nats took two of Driveline’s top hitting minds. The first guy I want to discuss is Travis Fitta, who is now an assistant hitting coach in AAA. Earlier this offseason, before he was hired by the Nats, Fitta was working with Jacob Young. Driveline put out a really cool video of their session together.

Fitta’s main emphasis was trying to translate the athleticism Young has on the field to his hitting. The way he talks about hitting is so impressive and high level. It is so scientific which really interests me. Young seems to be leaving a lot of meat on the bone from a biomechanics standpoint, and Fitta was trying to fix that. His specialty is optimizing these players’ swings.

I think this will be very helpful for Nats in the MLB and in the minors. One guy that stands out to me that Fitta will be working with is Yohandy Morales. The former second round pick has so much raw power, but his swing is not optimized. He hardly ever pulls the ball and hits it on the ground a lot. This tells me that Morales is not on time consistently due to his swing. Hopefully Fitta can change that.

At the MLB level, Andrew Aydt was added as an assistant hitting coach. Aydt was the assistant director of hitting at Driveline and helped players like Ivan Herrera take the next steps in their development. Now, he will get the chance to work with the likes of James Wood, Dylan Crews and Daylen Lile every day.

After looking at Driveline, and the kind of people they attract, it is easy to see why Paul Toboni is poaching their employees. They are full of young people who are at the cutting edge of baseball. That certainly fits the Toboni ethos of creating a player development monster.

Toboni wants the Nats to be a place to be for young, up and coming minds. It is only natural then that he is poaching from Driveline, which is currently the place to be for those people. The Nationals will be all in on things like adding pitches or making data backed swing changes. That should really excite you if you are a Nats fan.

For players that want to improve their game, Driveline is the place to go. You can only go to Driveline in the offseason though. Toboni is bringing Driveline into the organization so players can improve their games in season. The Drivelineification of the Washington Nationals is very exciting and will be something to watch this season in the MLB and on the farm.

We are going to be (trying) to ask a ‘Question of the Day’ to get a discussion going.

Today’s question is “Which year permanently changed how you watch baseball?”

Hmmmm that’s a tough one for me. I’ve watched baseball my whole life. I guess the change came when Bill James started publishing his ‘Baseball Abstracts’ in the 1980s and, around the same time, started noticing Earl Weaver, and how he managed differently than other managers.

I started looking at the differences among managers (back when each manager had their own way of doing things, one of the things I miss about the old days). Billy Martin would pick four starting pitchers and ride them hard (and, of course, fight with everyone). It would work for a season or two, but then the workload would catch up with them. Of course, Martin knew that he wasn’t going to last long in any job, so why should he worry about the health of his players?

Whitey Herzog built his teams to make the most of the home field. In KC, his team played on a very fast artificial turf and a huge outfield. He used fast outfielders who could cut off balls before they got to the track and, of course, could round the bases when their hits made it to the track. Fly balls died before reaching the wall, so power wasn’t high on his priorities.

Around the same time, the Blue Jays were assembling a young, talented roster, and I found myself enjoying watching them develop before my eyes. Watching Bell, Moseby, Barfield, Mulliniks, Whitt, Stieb and all would make a fan out of anyone.

Anyway, the point of this wasn’t for me to answer the question; it was for you guys to do it. Tell us what year permanently changed how you watch baseball?

*In an effort to make the nomination voting easier for everyone, I will comment, “NOMINATIONS”, and you may reply to that with your picks and upvote the player you’d like to see on the next nominee list.

We’re almost done with our top-10 prospects! Shortstop Edgar Montero has won the fan vote for the eighth-best prospect in the farm system. An international signee just last year, the switch-hitting shortstop is a well-rounded batter in the box and has made huge strides on defense, so much so that the A’s are reportedly planning to continue developing him at shortstop even though scouts believe that as the 19-year-old gets older he’ll need to move to third base. The A’s have some serious talent at shortstop coming up the pipeline, and that’s without even counting the recently-extended Jacob Wilson.

We have a new nominee and that player is right-handed pitcher Cole Miller. The former 4th-rounder missed his first professional season after undergoing Tommy John surgery soon after signing an above-slot bonus to join the A’s and forgo college. In his first taste of the pro ranks Miller did not disappoint as he showed his plus-fastball and improving secondary offerings. The righty is way down on the farm and won’t be an impact in the next couple of years but if things break right he could become one of the team’s better pitching prospects down the line. Just need to coach him up this coming year and we could see an aggressive promotion.

The process for this public vote is explained below. Please take a moment to read this before participating:

• Please only vote for one. The player with the most votes at the end of voting will win the ranked spot. The remaining four players move on to the next ballot where they are joined by a new nominee.
• In the comments, below the official voting, the community will nominate players to be put onto the ballot for the next round. The format for your comment should be “Nomination: Player Name”.
• If a prospect is traded, his name will be crossed out, and all other players will be moved up a space. If a prospect is acquired, a special vote will be put up to determine where that player should rank.

Click on the link here to vote!

* * *

A’s fans top prospects, ranked:

1. Leo De Vries, SS
2. Jamie Arnold, LHP
3. Gage Jump, LHP
4. Wei-En Lin, LHP
5. Braden Nett, RHP
6. Henry Bolte, OF
7. Johenssy Colome, SS
8. Edgar Montero, SS

The voting continues! Which A’s prospect do the fans believe is the ninth-best player in the system? Here’s a quick rundown on each nominee— the scouting grades (on a 20-to-80 scale) and scouting reports come from MLB Pipeline.

Nominees on the current ballot:

Tommy White, 3B

Expected level: Double-A | Age: 22

2025 stats (A+/AA): 395 PA, .275/.334/.439, 23 doubles, 0 triples, 12 HR, 51 RBI, 29 BB, 54 K, 3 SB

MLB Pipeline grades and scouting report:

Scouting grades: Hit: 50 | Power: 60 | Run: 30 | Arm: 50 | Field: 40 | Overall: 45

White’s right-handed power is legitimate and he can hit the ball a long way to all fields thanks to his strength and bat speed. He might be known for his home run totals but he’s a better overall hitter than people think, finding the barrel consistently and limiting strikeouts. His knack for contact can lead to him expanding his strike zone, but he doesn’t swing and miss very often.

It will be White’s bat that carries him to the big leagues. He’s a well-below-average runner who likely lacks the range and tools to stick at third base, where he toiled as a sophomore and junior, earning praise for playing through a shoulder injury at LSU in 2023. He’s likely headed to first base long term, which could give the A’s a glut of serious offensive talent between him and first-rounder Nick Kurtz.

Shotaro Morii, SS/RHP

Expected level: Low-A | Age: 19

2025 stats (Rookie Affiliate): 188 PA, .258/.399/.384, 8 doubles, 1 triple, 3 HR, 27 RBI, 36 BB, 47 K, 4 SB

MLB Pipeline grades and scouting report:

Scouting grades (hitter): Hit: 50 | Power: 50 | Run: 55 | Arm: 60 | Field: 50 | Overall: 40

Scouting grades (pitcher): Fastball: 55 | Slider: 40 | Curveball: 45 | Splitter: 50 | Control: 45 | Overall: 40

At the plate, Morii features a smooth left-handed swing with tremendous balance. His power stands out, as he clubbed 45 home runs as a high schooler. He is considered an advanced hitter with good barrel control. On the mound, his fastball has been clocked as high as 95 mph and sits around 92-93. He also brings a splitter with nasty movement, a true 12-to-6 curveball and a tighter slider with solid bite and depth, though that offering will probably require some fine-tuning. Having only been pitching with regularity for less than two years, Morii’s arm is relatively fresh as he enters the organization.

Morii’s high-octane throwing arm plays well at shortstop, but some evaluators see a possibility of moving to third base as his 6-foot-1 frame fills out. While scouts see Morii’s long-term future in the batter’s box, the A’s plan on giving him every opportunity to succeed as a two-way player, with excitement already building over his impressive physical traits and desire to become one of the next great players out of Japan.

Devin Taylor, OF

Expected level: High-A | Age: 22

2025 stats (Single-A): 188 PA, .264/.388/.481, 5 doubles, 0 triples, 6 HR, 18 RBI, 21 BB, 37 K, 2 SB

MLB Pipeline grades and scouting report:

Scouting grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 60 | Run: 45 | Arm: 45 | Field: 45 | Overall: 45

Taylor shows the potential to become a plus hitter in terms of both average and power while controlling the strike zone. A left-handed hitter with plenty of bat speed and strength, he hits the ball extremely hard and generates power to all fields. He likes to swing the bat but has cut down on his chases this spring. He makes consistent contact and has no problems handling breaking pitches.

The majority of Taylor’s value will come from his offensive production. His speed, arm strength and defensive instincts all grade as fringy, which will limit him to a corner outfield spot in pro ball.

Steven Echavarria, RHP

Expected level: Double-A | Age: 20

2025 stats (A+): 4.59 ERA, 25 starts (26 appearances), 104 IP, 88 K, 42 BB, 8 HR, 4.10 FIP

MLB Pipeline grades and scouting report:

Scouting grades: Fastball: 55 | Slider: 55 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 50 | Overall: 45

The A’s believe Echavarria’s stuff played better than the overall numbers might suggest. His fastball reached 98 mph and sat 95-96 with good ride up in the zone. The issue was struggling to command his arsenal when he would fall behind in counts. His mid-80s slider flashes plus, and his upper-80s changeup continues to improve. He also throws a two-seamer in the 92-93 mph range. He clearly dealt with some control issues, but the A’s are not at all sounding the alarm, instead patiently working with the teenager on adjustments.

Echavarria profiles as a starter for the long-term with his 6-foot-1 frame and sound delivery. Previously having shown an ability to consistently throw all of his offerings for strikes prior to the Draft, he will continue to work to rediscover that control in his second season of pro ball.

Cole Miller, RHP

Expected level: Single-A | Age: 20

2025 stats (ROK, Single-A): 1.90 ERA, 12 starts (15 appearances), 52 IP, 45 K, 11 BB, 1 HR, 3.38 FIP

MLB Pipeline grades and scouting report:

Scouting grades: Fastball: 55 | Slider: 50 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 45 | Overall: 40

The A’s were working on some mechanical adjustments with Miller prior to his injury. His electric fastball ticked up to 96 mph in high school and displayed excellent movement down in the zone. The mid-80s slider is a hard breaker and was showing signs of improvement. His low-80s changeup showed some potential as an average third pitch.

There was real excitement within the organization for Miller’s professional debut. His three-pitch mix and large 6-foot-6 frame give off the potential of a workhorse-type starting pitcher in the big leagues. The A’s also loved the competitiveness they saw from him on the mound while scouting him. After an unfortunate delay, he finally got his first opportunity to make an impression this summer.

* * *

Programming Note: Each CPL vote will run for around 48 hours, so don’t delay m